Toastmasters

Has anyone here been a member of theirs in the past or present? I am terrible at meeting new people or talking to people I am not used to. And it takes me quite a while to warm up to people. I am hoping this group could help with this. Anyone have any experiences they would like to share?

Has anyone here been a member of theirs in the past or present? I am terrible at meeting new people or talking to people I am not used to. And it takes me quite a while to warm up to people. I am hoping this group could help with this. Anyone have any experiences they would like to share?

 

Funny you bring this up. I am joining them as a personal/professional goal for 2016

 

I'm hoping they can help me kick my mumbling and speed-talking to the curb.

I am not as active as I should be, but it definitely helped me be a better public speaker. Though I did find that the quality of the experience varies greatly with each group.

 

Try it, you really have nothing to lose, and just getting up and practicing will fix a lot (primarily confidence).

I was member of the local Toastmasters for a couple of years.

 

What you will learn are the following:

 

Organize your speech

Preparation, preparation, preparation (They hammer this home)

Voice inflection

Working the room

Getting rid of bad habits such as "Umms, You know", mumbling

Eye Contact

More importantly, you will have many opportunities to give speeches. Which in turn you will gain confidence and be more comfortable in public speaking. The first speech you will do is fun, it's talking about yourself

 

I love the roundtable speeches. The Toastmaster picks a random topic and you get up and give a 1 1/2 mns speech. It can be anything. This will help you hone in on speaking on the fly. Especially beneficial in meetings.

 

One thing I like and didnt like about Toastmaster is it's a very safe and supportive environment. You will get alot of encouragement. The downside of that is, when you're being evaluated by the members, some will tend to sugarcoat and tell people you did a good job when in reality, it was horrible.

 

I would encourage you to give it a try and if you don't like it. Try a different Toastmaster group. It varies based on the members.

 

let me know if you have any questions.

 

I started going to one as a guest for a little over a month now. It's a big chapter so everyone gets wait listed, but probably in 2-3 months.

 

Most of my experience with public speaking is for work with PowerPoint. I wanted to try speaking without a script, and also spontaneous speaking which usually tends to bring some level of discomfort (at least initially).

 

It's usually around a 2 hour meeting that goes pretty quickly.

 

Like rst says, there are many chapters and they're not all at the same level.

 

There's a good variance in size, and that probably has it's pros/cons. The smaller groups will allow you to speak more often, while the bigger groups presents a more intimidating audience.

 

The nice thing about Toastmasters is that the speeches have their format and theme, but overall you choose the content/story/etc. From my experience, 90% of the ability to speak in public competently is just having prepared and rehearsed the speech, knowing the subject matter well.

 

I've noticed that perception of nervousness is greater for the speaker than the audience.

 

 

 

I don't know that toast masters is the best thing for you. Based upon what you stated in the first post you have a hard time meeting people and connecting with people. Toast masters is meant to improve your public speaking skills.

 

Don't get me wrong this will give you confidence and clarity when talking with people and giving presentations. But I think you just need to get out. I also think you need to understand what it is that you are afraid of. why are you scared to meet those people. And you are..., you stated it in your first post so there is some sort of mental fear that is slowing you down.

 

Just going to events where you are forced to meet people. Maybe some sort of speed dating (if you are single), or community programs even volunteering at a food bank. Just getting out and being force to communicate. Unfortunately in this day and age it is very easy to get stuck behind a keyboard.